The popularity of denim fabrics among consumers of all ages has been well documented by sales in a large number of countries throughout the world.
Denim is most often cotton cloth. A conventional dyestuff for denim is the dye indigo having a characteristic blue colour, the indigo-dyed denim cloth having the desirable characteristic of alteration of dyed threads with white threads which upon normal wear and tear gives denim a white on blue appearance.
A popular look for denim is the stone-washed or worn look. Traditionally stone-washing has been performed by laundering the denim material or garment in the presence of pumice stones which results in fabric having a faded or worn appearance with the desired white on blue contrast appearance described above. This stone-washed look primarily consists of removal of dye in a manner to yield a material with areas which are lighter in colour, while maintaining the desirable white on blue contrast, and a material which is softer in texture.
Enzymes, particularly cellulases, are currently used in processing dyed twill fabric, especially denim. In particular cellulolytic enzymes or cellulases have been used as a replacement for or in combination with pumice stones for the traditional "stone-washing" process to give denim a faded look. Use of cellulases to stone-wash has become increasingly popular because use of stones alone have several disadvantages. For example, stones used in the process cause wear and tear on the machinery, they cause environmental waste problems due to the grit produced and result in high labour costs associated with the manual removal of the stones from pockets of garments. Consequently, reduction or elimination of stones in the wash may be desirable.
Contrary to the use of pumice stones, enzymes, in particular cellulases, are safe for the machinery, result in little or no waste problem and drastically reduced labour costs.
However, many cellulases have an activity towards insoluble cellulose which may result in a reduced strength of the cellulosic fabric in question.
It is an object of the present invention to create an enzymatic process for manufacturing a fabric or a garment with a "stone-washed" look, a "worn" look or any other fashion look known in the art based on providing fabric or garments with localized variation in colour density, wherein the used enzyme has no or only a very low activity towards insoluble cellulose. In particular, it is an object of the present invention to create an enzymatic process for manufacturing a fabric or a garment with a "stone-washed" look, a "worn" look or any other fashion look known in the art by coating the yarn or fabric or garment with a polymer prior to dyeing and afterwards creating the abraded or worn look by degradation of the polymer coating.